United Nation Van Lines

We contracted this company to move our senior 75-year-old mother from Washington State to Maryland, and the expected pick-up was 8/24, and they didn't show up until 8/28. We sent emails to cancel due to the late pick-up and non-response, but customer service is non-existent. When they arrived, they did so in an Enterprise Rental Truck even though we were told during the sales pitch that the belonging would be retrieved in a van line that would show the cubic feet on the inside to solidify the final cubic feet cost. Upon arrival, the movers doubled the initial quote's fee, and because my mother had to be out of her house - we were forced to agree to the "estimate". However, we were promised it was only an estimate until they returned to the warehouse, and once it was off-loaded onto the van line - the actual cubic feet would be confirmed. Well, that never happened, and after weeks of calls and emails to customer service, they conveniently obtained amnesia. My mother's belongings remained in a warehouse for weeks. We made several attempts to get the actual cubic feet and get an expected delivery date - and after almost a month, the belongings finally arrived. Needless to say, they never altered the "estimated" price to provide actual readings and threatened to return my mother's belongings to CA if unpaid. An initial quote of 4,600 became 10,000 without an explanation. They don't answer the phone nor reply to emails unless payment is required. We had to report this company governing agencies and retain a lawyer to protect our interests.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9700

A broken foot left me no choice but to pay for professional movers and I was pretty unhappy about that. Now, though, I think that using United Nation Van Lines again will definitely be a good option even if I am healed. They moved my 1-bedroom in Virginia to a studio apartment in Massachusetts and I am impressed with the job they did. Speed is their forte but they maintain a fast pace without compromising your things. Nothing was broken and as far as I can tell, no damage either. I recommend them for doing an excellent job.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3500

United Nation Van Lines helped us out of a real mess by fitting us in at the last moment. The lease at our old apartment in New York was expiring and we had to move by a particular date or be forced to cough up an extra month of rent. United Nation Van Lines was the only moving company that shifted their things around to slot us in. It really shows you who you can rely on when things are dicey. I have no plans to move but I am telling everyone I can about their generous move and encouraging people to hire them. Perfect service.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3200

United Nation Van Lines deserves every 5 star rating that they have got in these reviews. This was the fifth time that I have hired them and they have been nothing short of perfect every single time. I don’t think any other company could have pulled off a record feat like that. Take every metric – rates, courtesy, speed, care – and they blow the competition out of the water on every one. I trust them to move my stuff better than I trust myself to do it. I will be using them again.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4700

Here are the facts:

• We moved from a 10x20x9' storage unit (1800 cu. ft. total) that was about 75-80% full (which would equal approx. 1350-1440 cu. ft.).

• We were only quoted for 1141 cu. ft.

• We ended up with about 25 more boxes than I had indicated on our inventory, but other than that, the inventory I gave was EXTREMELY accurate.

• I was told that their Q.A. person, Lisa, would give me a call the day prior to our move to “confirm” our inventory. She never did. I had been told by Roland (salesperson) that I should ‘wait’ to confirm my inventory until the Q.A. person called me!

• Once the movers had packed up the truck at our storage unit, they told us it took up 1700 cu. ft. At $5.30 per cu. ft., that was going to be an additional $3k. My husband watched them pack the whole truck and the first half of the truck they didn’t pack nearly as tightly as WE (the NON-professionals) had packed our storage unit. By the end, they were forced to pack a lot more tightly because they were running out of space on the truck!! (This was on a ‘box’ truck they brought to the storage facility . . . our stuff was later to be loaded onto an 18-wheeler.)

• My husband asked about the discrepancy, but was only told that “there was more than what was on the inventory”. He went ahead and signed the paperwork because he wasn’t sure what else he could do at the time. He assumed we would take it up later with the company.

• I did take it up with the company—later that very day. I sent an email because the office was already closed by that point. I heard nothing back.

• 5 messages and 3 weeks later, Nadine finally called me back. I asked her about the discrepancy and she wouldn’t even let me explain the situation fully without interrupting and arguing with me. She kept claiming that she 'wasn’t there’ and so she had no way of knowing how the truck was packed. She asked me why my husband hadn’t taken any pictures and why he didn’t question the foreman about the job. I told her that he DID question the foreman about the ‘end’ result, but that his answer was inadequate. If we had 25 additional boxes to what was on our inventory (which is what I was eventually told), based on their own estimates, that would have been equal to an additional 75 - 112.5 cu. ft. (depending on whether they were considered "med" or "large" boxes), NOT the additional 559 cu. ft. we were being charged for.

• Nadine told me she would call dispatch to verify. She called me back and said that they “confirmed” that our shipment was 1700 cu. ft. She told me I had to wait until the 18-wheeler arrived with our stuff on it and I could talk to the driver then and he could show me on the truck where our stuff came up to.

• The 18-wheeler arrived and when I talked to the driver, he had NO idea about our dispute. We had to pay the entire amount (for the 1700 cu. ft.) up front before they would even begin unloading our stuff.

• One of the main questions I had at the start was to confirm that United Nation was an actual “moving” company and not simply a “broker” who would sell our job to another transport company. Roland assured me that they had all of their OWN trucks and all of their OWN drivers. This is simply NOT TRUE. The driver who dropped off our stuff told me outright that he did not work for United Nation Van Lines and that he worked for a completely separate transport company.

• I took pictures of the entire unloading process and when they were done, the driver showed me that our stuff went up to the 1500 cu. ft. mark on the truck. (The space I was charged for also included a HUGE pile of UNUSED moving blankets! Why were we being charged for the space that those took up!?) I took all of that information & sent it (& the pictures) to Nadine, as she had asked.

• Nadine didn’t care. Her response was this: “I did explain to you why Dispatch advised that there was no comp warranted on this account . . . the decision was made by dispatch that no comp was warranted on this account.” So, basically, I did exactly what she had told me to do: I waited until the driver showed up with our stuff, I took pictures of the entire process, I asked the driver to show me where our stuff went up to on the truck, he confirmed that it only reached the 1500 cu. ft. mark and it MADE NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER. I had CLEAR proof that I was being overcharged and they refused to accept it.

The bottom line is that I was only asking to pay what was FAIR and for the space we ACTUALLY took up on the truck. We chose a professional moving company for the first time ever to try and eliminate some stress for ourselves. I won’t ever make that mistake again. This was the most stressful move I have ever experienced (and we have done quite a few—including moves overseas and back!!). The only reason moving companies like this one get away with this is because they are let off the hook time and time again. It’s not right.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $9800

There is no doubt that we will hire United Nation Van Lines again for our next move. In our move to Maryland from Vermont, they completed the entire thing ahead of schedule even though we had ended up needing more time and space for packing and loading some things we had not been able to sell. We were charged a bit more than the regular price for that but I guess it was inevitable. Otherwise, their pricing is one of the main reasons we hired them. Other than that, the people are actually nice and it’s easy to get along with them.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4600

I recommend United Nation Van Lines and rate them 5 stars for a perfect move. This was my first experience with a professional moving company and I am really glad it was so simple and smooth. Initially, I was really apprehensive after reading some terrible stories (with other companies). My fears were sort of soothed over by the customer service agents. They described and explained the process very well in layman’s terms. On moving day, they were on time and very hardworking - basically, all work and no play. I had a really easy time since they handled everything so well.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5900

5 star rating for a 5 star performance by United Nation Van Lines. I have used huge instantly recognizable moving companies as well as small, two-man operations. I find that United Nation Van Lines gives me the quality service from the first group and the affordable cost of the second. In some respects, they even seem to give better service than big companies while still keeping their prices in the lower range. I hired them to move my studio apartment in NC to a 2-bedroom house in FL. The movers did the job perfectly without needing excessive supervision from me. Very happy to recommend them.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3900

My move went off better than I could have ever expected, thanks to the great work done by the lovely people who work at United Nation Van Lines. They made every step of the journey a breeze, from breaking down the costs and charges in the initial quote, to helping us prepare for move day, and then doing such a perfect job with the move itself. It really gave us a sense of control over what is really such a messy and unpredictable process. An extra thank you for not causing a single bit of damage to any of our things!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3275